Page 6, Whithby Fiee Pres, Wednesday, March 1, 195 The only Newspaper owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents! . MEMBER OF: ONTARIO CANADIAN COMMUNITY COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER + N NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION ASSOCIATION CANADIAN CIRCULATIONS CNA DIVISION AUDIT BOARD ISSN#0844-398X The Whitby Free Press is distributed free to 99% of the homes in Whitby, Brooklin, Ashburn & Myrtle as well as numerous public and commercial outiets in Whitby, Oshawa, Ajax, Pickering & Port Perry. 27,000 COPIES DELIVERED WEEKLY MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE Canada $34 + GST • Outside Canada $80 + GST Published every Wednesday by 677209 Ontario Inc. Box 206, 131 Brock St. N., Whitby, Ontario L1 N 5S1 Phone: 668-6111 Out of town: 1-800-668-0322 Fax: 668-0594 Doug Anderson - Publisher Maurice Pifher - Editor Alexandra Martin - Production Manager Printed on newsprint with minimum 20% recycled content using vegetable based inks. • All wrtten material, Illustrations and advertising contained herein is protected by copyright. Any reproduction by any means for commercial purposes without the express permission of the newspaper is prohibited and is a violation of Canadian copyright law; Reproduction for non-commercial distribution should bear a credit line to the whitby Free Press. To the editor.,.. Snow job To the editor: Re: Health council recommend- ations to close Whitby General Hospital. For the entire time that I have lived ir Whitby, Whitby General Hospital (formerly Dr. J.O. Ruddy Hospital) has been my hospital of choice. I and my family have always gone there for our health care if the service we needed was offered. If the health council recommendations become a reality, we will have to go elsewhere. Now explain to me again, how my hospital isn't closing. Those of us who have been fighting the findings of the original discussion paper have never deluded ourselves into thinking that we would influence a total turnaround in the health council Sosition. We- never dreamed, however, that more than 31,000 people would be treated with such open contempt, as to be ignored by this government-appointed body. Compare the two documents produced by the steering committee. There were no fundamental changes made between the one made public in early spring and the one just made public now. lt's obvious that the eath council was not really open to public participation once they had their plan in place. The last six months have been an exercise in keeping up the appearance of democracy. Even that wasn't accomplished successfully. What will it be, Whitby? Roll over and play dead or escalate the fight? JoAnne Prout Whitby To theedior..S Wasteful.spending To the editor: I am fed up with wastefu spending by council. Some of my concerns: a) The treasury departmen should be directed to adopt a mor open accounting procedure othe than the creative bookkeeping nov used. For example, there should b a consolidated balance shee showing current assets and liabilities, and a consolidated statement of loss and deficit for al Town-owned and operated facilities. b) Taxpayers are loaded with capital cost obligations that must be met. Most recreational facilities are heavily subsidized by taxpayers -- Heydenshore Pavilion, Luther Vipond arena, Ottenbrite pool, Iroquois Park, Centennial Building. Balfields are brightly lit night after night when not in use. These facilities are disproportionately used by those who must pay for them. The Town should not be engaged in businesses that directly compete with private operations -- Heydenshore Pavilion should be sold. We should not entertain new vent ures that mean endless maintenance and operational costs such as additional ice pads. That should be let to private enterprise. This would avoid an estimated additional half-million- dollar il t r r Chooses pet over Whitby To the edItor: This letter is in response to a recent article about a Brooklin resident who has an "undesired" guest in his residence that is in danger of "eviction." I, too, am a ferret owner. I moved to the Whitby area a few weeks ago from New York state. I had planned to settle here, where I was thinking of attending school and possiblyopenin9 my own business. Upon hearnng of this ridiculous - bylaw, I have decided against remaining here. I have owned a ferret for almost a,year now and have no intention whatsoever of giving him away or even subjecting myself to a possible fine. What kind of a place is this? The town is beautiful, the people go out of their way to be nice yet there are people in government who enforce outdated and downright dumb laws which they themselves do not understand. Some of the arguments I have heard make sense but are totally ignored when it comes to other species of animals. Ostriches and other exotic animals are obviously not native to this area. Those animais could escape into the wilderness and upset the ecosystem. Precautions must be taken to prevent such incidents. I'm sure the farms in the area that have exotic animals have some sort of system fo ensure these animais cannot escape. The question is, why are they allowed to stay? It seems as though these institutions are probably paying more taxes than the gentleman in Brooklin. Is this fair? i think not. In New York state, certain bylaws are being enfbrced -with regard to owniçg so-dalled "wild animais." One must apply for and obtain a permit to be allowed ownership of specific species. These permits were introduced a number of years ago to find out what kinds of animals were being kept as pets and where. It is quite possible that some sort of similar system may work in the Oshawa-Whitby area. It's a relatively simple system and I for one, would be happy with it. It may even prove to be another source of revenue for the municipality. I find it quite disturbing that there are people serving on council who enforce bylaws which they do not understand. To say that a ferret, or dog, or cat is an animal is fine but, to refer to them as wild animals is ludicrous. If one could see my ferret sitting on my lap or sleeping in my bed, it would be easy to make such a decision. I plan on keeping my ferret even if it means leaving. He is too much a part of my life to just give away as one would an old pair of shoes. Owner JJ the ferret (Name wih.held by request) subsidy. Of course we still have to pay for ur new works yard, fire hai, serniors' centre and rec centre, amounting to several millions on the back of taxpayers. c) No "Dream trip to China" for local politicians. I do not want my tax dollars spent on sightseeing trips. Any politician who wants to go to China should pay their own way as I had to, or use the one-third-tax-free allowance that they enjay.. Realty taxes should not be used to subsidize business in that manner. Besides, business people know what they are doing, they make the deals, not freeloading politicians. Businesses are able to deduct their expenses, taxpayers cannot· deduct their costs. d) In 1993, $14,000 was budgeted for a twinning party. After the orgy of spending, the bill came to over $25,000, some 56 per cent overspent. This obscene expense consisted of $9,000 for a dinner and a breakfast, $4,500 for another dinner, and $1,200 for a brunch, plus $2,300 for music, $2,400 for buses, $2,100 for gifts and other expenses. Only 3,600 was recovered through tickets etc., leaving the taxpayer stiffed for about $22,000. Politicians should pay their way. e) Rescind the approximately $2,000 that Whitby councillors take in cash, in lieu of benefits that are otherwise paid for by this employer; or, in the case of retired councillor's, benefits that continue to be paid by their past employer; or, in the case where a councillors' spouse has family benefits that are paid for by his or her employer. Taking this from taxpayers is nothing more than an unethical money grab. f) Rescind the $8,000 expense (for taxpayer-paid car) for a senior employee, also the non-accountable personal use of taxpayer-paid cellular phone. Travel expenses for the mayor should be slashed to a more realistic level. Discontinue the annual dinner that councillors and their spouses enjoy (usually at an expensive Toronto hotel), costing taxpayers thousands of dollars. Bridle unreasonable conference expenses by councillors -- the treasurer's report shows the east ward councillor spent in excess of $400 per day at the Royal York Hotel while attending the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in 1991. g) According to the 1994 Whitby current budget, there are several other areas that could be drastically slashed -- for example, conferences and seminars $76,000, subscriptions and memberships $45,000, travel, a whopping $76,000. Almost $200,000 with no visible benefit to the taxpayer. I hope residents will speak out about the unreasonable taxes we pay in Whitby. With cuts, a reduction of -five per cent should b. possible. Taxpayers should write to Treasury chair Don Mitchell or tell him in person on Tuesday, March 7, 6:30 p.m., at the municipal building (call first if you want to speak at the meeting). Jlm Prlest Whitby Public ignored To the editor: i was one of the lucky people in attendance when the Durham District Health Council released their $357,000 acute care study. How fortunate I was to hear that they are ignoring public demands and continuing their plan to eliminate all acute care at Whitby General Hospital. . . During the meeting, the non-elected committee members were praised for their long hours of work, funded graciously by the taxpayer. The only item the 20-month report did not study is the many hours the sick have spent waiting for the 'best health care system in the world' to help them. The people of Whitby have protested loudly by way of ition and attendance at meeiuiy. %., objections to the report's recommendations have fallen on deal ears. I am tired of politicians elected to represent our interests only to forget who is paying their generous salaries andbnefits. I am tired of appointed committees spending tax money on studies that constantly tell us we have to do more with less. I have gone door to door for signatures and I now challenge the citizens of Whitby to stand up and be counted. With your letters and phone calls to the Ministry of ealth, we wili show that the status quo wili not suffice. We will show that a growing Whitby wants and deserves to have an upgraded general hospital. Maria Dettacoll WhItby